Oikocredit launches banking partnership with social bank ABS in Switzerland

Oikocredit launches banking partnership with social bank ABS in Switzerland

On the left: Martin Rohner (CEO, ABS) and Silvio Krauss (director of Oikocredit’s support association in German-speaking Switzerland.

November 16 2016

Oikocredit and the Alternative Bank Switzerland (ABS) have teamed up to launch a new savings product: the ‘Oikocredit Förderkonto’, a savings account to support people in developing countries.

The product is unique in Switzerland in that it enables ABS savings-account holders to use their savings to directly support low-income people and their communities.

ABS provides a loan to Oikocredit equal to the amount of money invested in the Oikocredit savings account. The loan is used to finance Oikocredit partner organizations active in microfinance, agriculture and renewable energy. By way of example: financing to smallholder cooperatives that produce fair trade food for their own market or for export; or the provision of loans to microfinance institutions for on-lending to their clients.

As Martin Rohner, CEO of ABS, puts it: “We have set ourselves the goal that every franc that is entrusted to us contributes to a better world. With the Oikocredit savings account, we offer our customers a unique opportunity to save money while doing something good.”

Silvio Krauss, director of Oikocredit’s support association in German-speaking Switzerland points out the similarity of approach between the two partners: “ABS and Oikocredit share the same values. We are both pioneers in our fields, and have remained true to social and ecological advancement since our inception.”